The End Is Rarely Happy
by oOKayleeOo
Summary: follows on from where Cursed left off. might be a little off on some of the facts. its been a while since i've seen it. any feed back would be nice. its the first fanfic i've ever posted so please be nice
1. Chapter 1

Elle watched her brother as he ran off with the girl of his dreams and tried to smile. Sure, all was not right with the world. There were still starving countries riddled with AIDs, their parents had uped and died, and Elle had to move from inter-state to raise her misfit brother. Not to mention how much she hated her job. But, and this was the important part; she wasn't going to be turning brown and fury and that had to be something good in this big, wide world of bad.

Elle sighed and went back inside, shutting the cracked door behind her. Who knew what time that kid-brother of hers would be getting home, well at least he was out with friends. That was a first, and it had to be a good sign. Better than reading those books. Maybe the werewolf feasco hadn't been all bad…Elle shook her head, trying to disloge an image of Jake that had floated to her mind. Jake smiling down at her in his rather off-beat club. Elle wandered into the lounge-room and found the book Jimmy had lent from the library. It was still open on the page describing how to cure oneself from the curse. She picked the book up, careful not to loose the page and skimmed over it. _It was pure luck that Jimmy had chosen this book, _Elle thought. _If he'd picked another one we might have got it wrong. Might have missed something important. Might have turned fury. _

She put the book back down on the coffee table. She'd have to remind Jimmy to return it soon, they'd had it for a while now, and she knew full well who'd end up forking out the bill for it. _Jake would have offered._ Trying to keep those unwanted thoughts behind her, out of her head, Elle moved into the kitchen to do some cleaning up. The moment she saw the shambles Elle realized just how near impossible the task would be. Oh well all the better to keep those thoughts at bay. But they kept moving in on her, catching her unawares, tricking her into payng attention to them. Thoughts about Jake. His face when he asked her, told her to join him. She'd almost agreed. For a split second she almost forsook all she knew, everyone she loved, Jimmy. Almost. But she'd turned down the offer. She'd felt bad at the time. She didn't now. But Elle tried not to think about that. Instead: she did the dishes. Trying to keep her thoughts on all the broken plates that littered the room and how long it was going to take her to clean the mess up. And of course Jimmy was out with his new fab friends. No doubt he'd understood the ultimate mess and how he ultimately would have had to help clean if he'd stayed home. _Smart boy._ Elle thought, shaking her head and smiling that small annoyed one she saved for moments just like this. Well, not so much the house-getting-ruined-by-evil-wolfman-boyfreind-and-scary-dog moments, more her brother avoiding the house-hold chores kinds of moments.

Bending down to pick up a semi-whole plate, Elle let out a groan of pain. A sudden spazem of fear seized the young woman as the terrified thought that she was still turning ran-throuh her like a shiver. Her breathing became short, sharp and panic-stricken. "Oh, no. Please no." she whispered to the empty room, unintentionally looking at the burnt remains of her boyfriend. almost expecting him to move, laugh at her. But nothing happend. No claws, no fur, no rage. silence, just her short, staggered panting. slowly she patted down her side, where the pain was almost unbareable. she felt something warm and sticky. Elle let out a sigh of relief as she recognised the signs of extensive injurty. She'd failed to notice it earlyer and had no doubt it occurred during the violent fight for her and her brother's life. _Maybe I've been in shock_?

Wiping her hands on her pants, Elle carefully raised her black top that had drunk up the blood and hidden the wound from herself. Pealing the blood soaked top back and twisting to get a better look, the full extent of the injury came into view.

"Ah crap," she muttered. It was big and it was mighty, "It's gonna need stitchs." Elle swore, even with her health insurance, all these hospital trips were going to add up into costing her a lot of money.

At least she was human. Elle just had to keep reminding herself of that. And as long as the cops didn't come knocking about a missing Jake, all would be fine. _Jake._ Something had gone oh-so-very wrong in that relationship. Something had gone oh-so-very wrong with Jake. How had she not known about him before hand? How did she not tell that he was…well a homicidal, pathological, lanthencropic psychopath. Well at least she had an excuse about the lanthercopic part. Up till a week or so ago she didn't even believe in God let alone werewolves. Now she wasn't sure about anything. Take the Easter Bunny for instance, was that real? Elle could go insane with these kinds of questions. Best not to think about them, best not to think about Jake either. Best not to look at the crispy remains of him lying paitently on the floor.

Boy was Ella going to have nightmares tonight.

"Screw it," Elle muttered, rolling the top back down over the wound. "I'm going to bed." sure she should really be taking herself off to the hospital, giving her kid brother a quick call on the mobile -assuming he'd taken it with him - and all that. But right now she was tired. More tired than she'd been in a while, not since mum and dad had died. Not since the funeral. Without really thinking, she picked up the now clean silver cake cutter to put back in the draw.

The cutter was burning hot, like acid. The pain ran like liquid fire up Elle's arm until she screamed and threw the antique piece of cutlery back into the sink. Gripping her hand she staggered back, knocking into the kitchen table, stepping on her dead ex.

Elle looked down at the burnt palm and seeing the already healing wound: screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

Jimmy leapt in to Bo's car riding shotgun with Brook in the back. They were laughing as they sped off doing at least thirty over the speed limit. But Jimmy was yet to see a police car in this area of town. They were laughing; Jimmy had no idea what the others were finding so funny. He was too busy laughing because he _wasn't _dead, _wasn't _fury, and _wasn't _cleaning. What more could he ask for in a day? He was almost hysterical.

After a few deep breaths, and a few more uncontrollable giggles from the group Bo managed to ask "Where we headed?" he was still grinning and trying to stay focused on the road as houses and little trees trapped in pavement zoomed past. He gave Jimmy a sideways glance.

"I honestly don't care." Jimmy grinned in response, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back. He grinned at Becky in the seat behind. She smiled back while trying to get her hair under control. It was whipping around wildly in the wind. Finally she managed to tie it back and asked Jimmy if it looked ok. He said it looked 'fine'. And unfortunately the poor girl believed him. It is a good thing one could say, that she couldn't see her reflection in the revision mirror.

"What about my place?" asked the girl once finished with her hair and leaning between the boys in the front to fiddle with the radio. Choosing something hideous and girlly. Bo groaned.

"Honestly," said he, raising his voice against the music. "You'd think that after spending four months with me her taste in music might have improved." Bo joked, giving Jimmy a sideways grin.

_Her taste._

An image flashed into Jimmy's mind. It was brief, gone before he could even fully register it. Brook. Blood. Jimmy leaning ever closer to lick the weeping wound….Jimmy blinked, and shook his head slightly. Momentarily disorientated the young man gave a wild look around the still moving car. Everything still seemed normal. Brook was bopping along to whatever noise she'd found on the radio and Bo was no negating his way though light traffic.

_That wasn't meant to happen, right? _Jimmy had to stop himself from saying that out loud. You weren't supposed to think those kinds of things after you were cured, _right? _Especially about girls in which one was romantically inclined. And he was cured. That he knew for sure. As sure as Jake was ash on the kitchen floor, waiting for Mr. Dust Pan.

"You ok?" asked Bo, sparing Jimmy another glance. He'd spotted the sudden change come over the guy and was rather concerned. After all he did own some kind of mutant, rabid dog. What happened if the monster bit him? Brook didn't notice a thing as she bopped along to the 'music' in the back seat, completely oblivious to the world.

Jimmy tried to think of an answer. Somehow the truth just didn't seem to be a good idea. "Uh…yeah…" he responded in an oh-so-unconvincing way, "…fine."

"…Right…" Responded Bo, disbelieving but returning to concentrate on the roads anyway. There was a 4WD behind and Bo didn't trust them. His dad drove a 4WD, and that was proof enough for Bo. Besides, it was dark and he wasn't the best of drivers, even when he was concentrating.

"So, where are we going again?" asked Jimmy, the mental moment he'd had really messed with him.

"My house." Brook called out from the back, "remember?" Jimmy saw her smile through the revision mirror and his stomach did flip-flops. This was the best worst day of his life. It almost made him wish he had more of them.

_Blood. _The sent of it filled him. And for a moment the surrounding night seemed as bright as day. _All right, there's something really not ok here. _Jimmy thought, in a quietly panicked sort of way. He sat there for a moment staring intently at the dashboard while the radio continued to blast poorly written love songs and tried not to cry. _After effects. _Jimmy informed himself, faking knowledgeable. _Obviously it must take a while for the wolf to get out of your system. _

"Yeah," Jimmy agreed with himself. That had to be it. It seemed to make sense.

"What?" asked Brook, with a curious expression. Jimmy did a double take, suddenly freaking out over how much he'd thought aloud. But by the look of only mild curiosity on her face he could tell thankfully not much.

"Uh, nothing, just thinking out loud." He responded. He tried to act calm, tried not to reveal to the other members of the car how freaked out he was getting. But his quivering voice, shaking knees and weak bladder were saying otherwise. Jimmy just had to hope they wouldnt notice.

This wasn't supposed to be happening. This was meant to be over. Jimmy glanced down at his clenched hands in his lap. Half expecting them to be covered with that dark brown fur. They appeared normal. But looks, Jimmy knew, could be deceiving. After all Jake and that chick from Ell's work looked normal enough. Until of course they turned furry and tried to hunt them down. flashes of memory kept popping into Jimmy's head, the absolute terror he'd had as the werewolf hunted them down the halls in the restraunt...Jimmy decided this recount of everything that had happened that night was not the best way to try and calm himself down. And tried to think of something _anything _that could set his mind at ease and prove how he was just working himself up once again. So he turned to the one constant in his life that was unafraid to constantly point out his short comings and bring him down in general. His sister. If she was experiencing some of the same things he was, or worse, he knew it was time to worry. If she told him to get over himself and grow up; he knew all was right with the world.

Jimmy reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his mobile. The fact that it came out in pieces keyed him in pretty quickly on just how useless it was. Which was a shame as it was a gift from his now dead parents. He stared at it for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was going to do now. His mobile was ruined. It was like the universe was trying to make his life that bit more difficult. Now how was he going to get in contact with his sister? What if she was in danger? What if she was turning back? What if he was turning back? Right now, with his friends around them? What if he tried to kill him? There were too many thoughts running around uncontrolled and unchecked in Jimmy's brain. He was overwhelmed. He felt like screaming and leaping out of the moving car to find a tree to punch and make everything better.

Brook leaned over and tapped Jimmy on the shoulder, "You wanna use mine?" she asked. Jimmy turned and looked at her with sorrowful eyes, not comprehending what she was saying. Just having the same horrible thoughts running over and over inside his head. Seeing his expression, Brook thought it best to clarify. "My mobile," said she, giving his a glance over, the screen was smashed and most of the buttons seemed to be missing. There was even a little of what seemed like blood that had seeped between the cracks. She thought it best not to ask what happened. "You want to borrow it? I'm on a Cap."

Finally clicking, Jimmy nodded his head and Brook disappeared to rummage through her bag to find it.

The mobile was pink with dingly-danglys hanging off it. Normally Jimmy would have made a fuss, but he wasn't concerned about such trifles at the moment. He just took it off the girl with out thanking her and punched in his home number.

The phone rang for what seemed ages. Then it rang out. He dialled it again. And it rang out once more. On the third attempt it was answered (as things always happened in threes).

"Ell," Jimmy began, but didn't get any further because he was cut off with a low, threatening growl.


	3. Chapter 3

Ellie hadn't slept well that night. In fact she'd hardly slept at all, even though she'd downed more than the recommended dose of nighty-nights that she'd discovered in the bathroom cabinet. She wasnt entirly sure how they'd gotten there. But that didn't stop her from waking up in a cold sweat not fifteen minutes after her head hit the pillow. The sheets were tangled around her neck and she awoke with such an uncontrollable panic that ran through her like lightening, that Ellie let out a scream before she was even fully awake. Ellie struggled momentarily against the sheets, somehow thinking they were Jake trying to strangle her before she realized where she was and that yes, her boyfriend "ex" she reminded herself was still in the kitchen.

Breathing hard and sitting bolt up in the large bed, Ellie glanced around the dark room. Everything seemed normal, her bloody shirt was still on the floor by the door where she'd tossed it before going to bed, the photos of her parents still sitting untouched on top the draws. Everything was fine, her parents smiling out from their little frames in a strangely reassuring way.

Wait a second! Ellie took a double take on the situation. It was night and all the lights bar the kitchen which was downstairs were off. It should be pitch black, how could she see the photos? their smiling faces? And then that sinking feeling as the memory of the cake-cutter slowly seeped back into her muddled mind. Without thinking but with great deliberation, Ellie slowly moved her hand to her side where the painful wound had sat quietly only a short while before. What she felt there made Ellie let out a small sound of dispair. There was only a slight tenderness and the raised bump of an almost healed wound.

With the realization that this was real Ellie tried scrambled off the bed, trying in a vain attempt to escape the fact. The fact that she was not cured, the fact that there was something growing inside her. Ellie tried to leap from the bed, however had not completely detangled herself from the blankets. Thus instead of landing on her feet and running from the room; her foot caught in the bed-sheets and she fell full length off the bed. Managing to knock her draws and make all the smiling pictures fall and smash around her as she lay momentarily stunned on the ground. She almost expected another wolf attack to come down on her.

"Oh, god, oh god" Ellie panted as she got herself back up off the floor and half crawled out of her bedroom before running down the stairs and into the kitchen. She stopped suddenly at the entrance when she spotted Jake and stood transfixed as she stared at the body, her eyes wide with fear. Silently she shook her head and backed away from the kitchen. She didn't know where she was going or what she was going to do. But going back into the kitchen was not part of her plan. Bad things happened in the kitchen. bad situations only seemed to get worse when she was in there.

Without really thinking, Ellie moved into the lounge room and picked up the phone. Some part of her knew she had to call Jimmy. Had to tell him to get home and as far away from his friends as possible. It wasn't safe. The numbers lit up the moment she hit the call button, illuminating her hand as she held the cordless. Ellie screamed again as she looked down, throwing the phone across the room. She stared at them. They weren't hers. Her hands weren't hers!

"This cant be happening!" Ellie cried, tears of desperation rolling down her terrified face. She held her hands away from herself as if they were contagious and of all things tried to back away. Still holding her hands out before her. "Why is this happening to me?!" she whimpered. The mark of the curse on her palm was obscured by the soft, downy fur that had begun to grow and was now quietly moving further up her arms. Her nails had already turned dark and sharp like those of a wolf she was so soon to resemble.

"No." Ellie whispered, her voice barely above a whisper, shaking her head in denial as hot little tears ran down her face. "No." She knew she had to fight it. Push back the changes. Refuse the curse. But how? She couldn't. They'd tried, and they had failed. They had killed the one who caused this and it had done nothing! Their last hope had died when Jake had.

Her back came in contact with a wall and Ellie slid down it, curling up into the foetal position and whimpered. Her hands still held away from herself, in the vague hope that the distance from her body would slow the process.

It was around then that the phone rang for the first time. Sharply, Ellie looked up from her dark little spot in the unlit room and focused on the sound of the cordless. She contemplated getting up to answer it. But it was too far. She just wanted to curl up and die. The noise of the phone was so loud it hurt her ears, she wanted the sound to stop. After a while it did; which was nice. But then it started up again. The noise went on and on. Ellie was half tempted to crawl all the way over there to tell them to stop ringing and let her wallow in the misery and monstrosity that was to be her life from here on out. The phone rang again. Obviously whoever was on the other side of the phone-line was not very sympathetic to Ellie's predicament. The sound was so loud; it was like someone was drilling inside her head.

"Persistent little..." Muttered Ellie as she got up rather unsteadily to her feet and moved towards the phone. Her gait was off; there was something wrong with her balance. She reached for the phone that had managed to land on the sofa and hit the receive button.

"Ell", her brother's voice came through his voice was slightly crackled, Ellie realised she must have thrown the phone harder than she realized. More importantly, however her brother's voice sounded mighty panicked.

"Jim," Ellie went to tell her brother that he had to get out of the car and back home ASAP. That things had defiantly not gone according to plan and there was something severely wrong with the situation. However, to Ellie's dismay, all that slipped out from between her lips was a low growl.

"Ellie?" she could hear her brother's panic stricken voice crackle through as she dropped the phone and reached up with clawed hands to touch her face. There was utter silence as she felt the features of a face she no longer recognised.


	4. Chapter 4

Jimmy was silent for a moment when he heard it

Jimmy was silent for a moment as the phone suddenly disconnected in his ear. Frozen for a spit second as the car sped down the dark streets in shocked silence. In those that second he couldn't hear Bo's hoon-loon talk, nor could he hear Brook signing off key in the back seat. He could only hear his sister; over and over that horrible, inhuman growl.

Slowly, the boy looked down to stare at the phone, as if the pink, shiny receiver would somehow explain why this was happening again.

"_I'm never gonna end with you, cuz I've gone to deep we know it's true. And we're heading off into the blue. I'm in love with you; I'm in love with you." _Brook was singing at the top of her lungs. She was totally digging this song at the moment and the young woman had started squealing when the first cord had been played through the tinny speakers of the car. But she'd cut herself off when in leaning over to crank up the volume even more she'd spotted Jimmy and more importantly; she'd seen how intently he was staring at the mobile.

"Hey," she called out over the booming volume. "You sure you're ok?"

Jimmy turned and faced the young love of his life with a haunted expression. "I have to go home." He said in a low tone that Brook had to strain to hear over the booming music.

"Why?" she asked, interested, but not entirely concerned. "What's wrong?"

"My sister…." But Jimmy couldn't thing of anything else to say after that.

"She sick?" asked Bo. Once again taking his eyes from the road and giving his passenger another look over. Jimmy wasn't looking too healthy; he seemed to have gone through three shades of pale since they'd left his house less than twenty minutes earlier.

"Yeah." replied Jimmy, seizing the excuse and making it his own, "real sick"  
he added as an unwanted memory of Elle staring in horror as her hand as bones shifted less than hour before.

"_We were born only to fly, and if I'm not with you I know I'm gonna die. And in the end I'm in love with you, I'm in love with…" _the song was abruptly cut off when Bo muted the sound. "You really want to go home?" he asked looking more than disappointed. "I'm sure your sis's been sick by herself before." Bo suddenly sneered "you finally get to hang with the big kids and you're running home whipped?"

Jimmy snarled, a low and unnecessary growl emitted from the boy's throat. "Listen fudge boy," he growled, he'd never said anything so homophobic in his life and some small part of Jimmy's mind was disgusted at himself. "But you and your little chemoflarge here" at this he jestured at Brook who wore an expression of confused hurt, "have no fricking idea what my sister is going through." He snarled, "But if you don't turn this hunk of junk around I'm going to rip out your spleen."

Well that caused an interesting silence. The two other members of the vechile stared at Jimmy.

"Get out." Bo said flatly.

Jimmy blinked, suddenly realizing exactly what he'd said and how far from home he was. "No, wait, I'm…" the boy tried to self explain but Bo was having nothing of it.

"Just get out." He said again, louder this time. Brook was just staring at Jimmy open mouthed as if he'd just grown a tail or something. And in Jimmy's case that was quite a likely story. Without even realizing it he checked for one.

"I'm sorry…" It was the only thing Jimmy could think of saying. And he didn't have to see the expression on the driver's face to know that it was nowhere near enough. "Brook…" Jimmy turned to face the girl in the back pleadingly. But she just shook her head disbelievingly. Jimmy looked down at his hands mortified and ashamed. He was still holding the mobile. It was still pink. He let out a low sigh, put the mobile in the drink holder and left the car. Bo sped off without so much as looking back at him. Cranking up the volume just spite the boy stationed at the side of the road. It was then that Jimmy realized he probably should have called a cab before hopping out of the car. Because it was a long walk home. And by the sounds of how Elle was doing, it was unlikely that he was going to make it back unchanged.


	5. Chapter 5

It was unreal. That was the emotion, not disbelief or shock. Unreal. Until this moment Ellie didn't know such a feeling could exist. She staggered up the stairs, making her awkward way towards the bathroom. Limbs that weren't hers. There were twinges of agony as her brain continued to map out the motor-neuron network of her changing body. And a strangely warm itch that had started from the center of her spine and moved upwards and outwards.

The house she'd known since she was born seemed so different now. She could truly 'see' it for the first times. The tiny, once unnoticeable cracks in the paint. finger prints of five-year-olds long since thought washed away in past years. Unreal.

She stumbled into the bathroom, clearing the sink before the mirror in one fell swoop and grabbing the scissors from behind the cabinet. Ell had to make it stop. Had to take it back. Herself. She was going to keep cutting until she found herself again. Under the fur. It was everywhere. She looked like the modern envision of the wolf-boy-made-girl.

Just started cutting. She just started cutting everything. So close to the skin that she was bleeding. Her arms, her hands tiny cuts turned into manic slashes as she realized the inhuman persistence of the change. It was becoming impossible to use the scissors as her hands...her claws evolved. Became bigger, more primitive. But Ellie was persistent also, opening the scissors to their full extent gripping one side. Hardly noticing as the blade dug into her padded palms. Dragging the exposed blade along her forearm. Pushing down until she knew it was tearing skin. She needed it to. She had to expose the human underneath.

And when she couldn't feel the arm through all the pain, she looked into the mirror and saw the face.

She didn't scream. Ellie was beyond screaming.

She didn't think about what she did next. No time for thinking. Ellie saw the face and in one swift moment she raised the blade from her arm struck her temple. Deep. Handel to scalp. Blood welling at the base and mixing with her new coat.

Ellie blinked. The blade, caked with hair and blood, was still in her hand. Her arm was a patch work of healing wounds. Tentatively Ellie reached up and touched her temple. Watching her untrusting reflection. Nothing. Just hair and the disturbing undergrowth. A hallucination.

Somehow that brought her attention back to her brother and the terror in his voice. He was still out there. In danger. Dangerous.

There was no way in hell that Ellie wanted to help him. To expose herself like this. A monster. Something that a part of her still screamed couldn't exist. But this was not a matter of want. Her brother might be the most annoying little problem-child on the earth. But he was her problem, and as Ellie stared herself down in the mirror, she knew she was going to take care of it.

She snarled at the reflection, exposing two rows of terrible razors. She still felt like Ell. Underneath it all she was still there. She had to be.

In one fluid moment Ellie turned from the mirror, released the blade and began the search for her brother.

_Author's note:__ Hey everyone, long time no post, don't worry I noticed too and have a few things to say on the matter._

_Firstly sorry about the very long delay in posts. I orinally only meant this to be a one-shot but continued it due to popular demand and have been stuck for a plot ever since._

_Secondly: I hate unfinished stories and would hate to become one of those people who don't finish them so I am making a promise that this story will be completed before the year's out._

_Thirdly: Ideas and inspiration for the development of this plot would be awesome! _


	6. Chapter 6

Horror, shame guilt. There's a lot of emotions that a person can feel at any one time. Fear, exuberance, shame. The list goes on. Jimmie shuffled his sneakers in the loose roadside gravel. This, he had to admit, was a bad situation. In fact, Jimmie would quite willingly go as far as to admit that it was a very bad situation. Quite probably one of the worst he'd managed to get himself into thus far. When it cane to stupid, insulting and outright disgusting things that one can say, Jimmie had taken the cake and candles tonight. He clenched his fists and breathed through gritted teeth. He'd really done it.

"Why the hell did I even say that?" Jimmie swore to himself quietly in the hush of the undeveloped outskirts of town. He could just make the lights of suburbia in the distance. A good hour or two walk until he got back to streetlights. Jimmie sighed and shuffled his feet. He'd better start the trek back sooner rather than later. There was something seriously déjà view going on and it was getting scary. More scary than before because of one major difference. No Ellie. Even if he was never going to admit it, to himself, to his sister or anyone else; Ellie made things better. She was his big sister, and when things turned to custard she was the one to deal. In the thick of it with him. When mum and dad died, Ellie came home. They ordered pizza for a month. Jimmie didn't have to go to school and Ellie didn't go to work. And when the dog-food ran out they ordered pizza for the dog…until they got a letter that said Jimmie was going to get expelled if he didn't turn up for school in the next week. Jimmie didn't know how to cope with this without Ellie. It just didn't work.

Ok, so maybe he hadn't coped too well with this _with_ Ellie…but that was beside the point. The point was that this was a MAJOR freak out. And he was having it on the side of a road.

Running a stressed hand through his hair, Jimmie tried to work out just how screwed he was. But he couldn't get past the part where it didn't make sense. He'd done everything by the book. Everything. And it worked. It worked perfectly. They had won.

They had killed Jake and they had won. That was how things like this work. Kill the evil boyfriend and everything just works itself out. That's how it's supposed to go. Only…. Only Jimmie was having so much trouble not thinking about the fact that there was something small and warm blooded in the scrub a few feet away. He could practically feel the heartbeats inside his head. They were small and fast and almost flowed through him. He wanted to consume it, make it his. The thought of it thrilled him and made him feel sick all at once. This was not ok. Ellie was not ok.

The small animal inside the scrub shifted nervously, dragging Jimmie's focus away from the task, the desperate situation at hand and back on its tiny life-force hidden from sight. Fighting the urge to dive into the half dead bush and hunt down, rip, tear, taste the tiny animal…Jimmie swallowed… he was loosing it. Seriously, dangerously loosing it. Was this how Jake thought? About people? Permanently? All the time?

He hoped not.

He hoped so.

The moon was almost unbearably bright and Jimmie felt like he could see forever. He inhaled deeply, tasting the air… all the interesting things he never bothered to notice before this moment. It was amazing. Every sent, every flavor. Details beyond his ability to describe. He could just stand here and breathe for hours.

Ellie.

There was something wrong with Ellie. Jimmie shook his head. There was something wrong with him. It was getting harder to focus on one thing. Not with the bright moon, and the warm smells. And his sister. He had to look for his sister, before he lost it completely. And apologize to Bo.

No! Screw Bo and that little bitch of his! Jimmie snarled. Bo left him out here. No phone, no way home but his own two legs.

_Wait_, an expression of panic ran across the young man's face, this _wasn't him_. Jimmie rubbed his forehead, trying to erase these angry, violent thoughts that couldn't belong to him. Had to belong to the wolf. The wolf that couldn't still be inside him. Pushing its way back out. He could almost feel it, testing him. Swallowing him, consuming him like a tiny heartbeat of a small beast bleeding out.

Jimmie breathed in deep and held it. Trying to drive the thoughts away, silently praying to whatever could be listening that he didn't, wouldn't start turning fur-real on the long way home. That would not end well. No.

The sound of his own footsteps followed him. A twit snapping making him jump like a startled deer. Until he realized there was only him and himself for company. Nobody else, but shadows moved, crawled, followed him until he was forced into a jog just to stay ahead of them. And when they kept up, stalking him so openly that he made an all out run. Sprinting for home. Running as fast as he could, away from the thoughts that burned like fire inside his skull, and even faster still as his back arched and fur erupted down his spine. Muscles bulged, his head felt like it was being split open.

Jimmie screamed.

For his sister, for his parents. For it just to end.

_Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the sllllow updates, and the rambling that sort of occurred in this chapter. I've kind of lost touch with the flow of this story and I'm just trying to get a feel for it again. Anyway, let me know what you think._


	7. Chapter 7

"I don't think we should have just left him there." Brook said quietly. It had been a long silence since the sudden drop off. When Bo graced her with nothing more than a look in the review mirror, Brook tried again. "I get it. He was a dick and made a dick move." She started, "but.."

"No you don't get it, ok?" Bo interrupted sharply, his foot planted firmly to the floor. "I…" he snarled and glared at her in the revision mirror again. This was hard to say. He felt stupid, and somehow…bad for telling Brooke like this. "I…"

"If you're trying to break the gay to me, Bo, don't worry. I kind of already knew that for a while." She smiled at him through the mirror. "Jimmie didn't let the cat out of the bag on that one." Well, that was an unexpected shock to the system. But before Bo even had time to recover from this, Brook suddenly unclicked the seatbelt and, much to Bo's protest, shifted herself into the front passenger. Scaring the wits out of the driver as he tried to focus on both the road and telling Brook that she was raving mad.

"Don't you know I'm speeding?" He demanded, slowing the heck back down to just above the limit. He gave the girl a bewildered look and turned back to the road, bewildered expression still in suite as the trees turned into houses.

"You're such a chicken." Brooke joked as she clicked the belt on and fiddled with the radio. Then, to Bo's disappointment that worried look crossed her face again. The same one she'd given him in the back seat. "I still don't think you should have left him there." She said to the radio. "How's he going to get home?" She shot Bo a glance.

"He's got legs." Bo replied coldly.

Brook looked at him. "It's like an hour from there back to his house." She said factually.

Bo narrowed his eyes, but didn't say a word. He'd not taken the turn off towards his street. Choosing instead just to follow the road. He was too angry to stop drive. Besides, now he wasn't even sure what to do with the night.

Brook watched the necessary road fly by and disappear behind suburbia before turning her attention back to Bo. "I didn't know Jimmie was homophobic…" The word sounded strange coming from her.

"He isn't…or wasn't…" Bo's rage filled expression shifted to one of hurt confusion. "At least I didn't think he was." Then he was angry again, "But clearly I was wrong."

"Maybe you're not." Brook replied, touching Bo's leg. Bo glanced down at her hand. "I don't know, but Jimmie…didn't seem himself. I think…."

Bo let out a huff and tightened his grip on the wheel.

"He was real worried about his sister… maybe she had an accident or is in hospital or something." Brook offered, "I mean… with what happened to his parents, I can kind of understand if he'd freak."

Bo just grunted in response.

"He said he was sorry."

Bo mulled that over for half a block. "You think his sister's that sick." Bo said. They had slowed right down to cursing, heading without realising it in a tangled way almost back in Jimmie's direction.

"I don't know." Brook said honestly, "Jimmie is one of the sweetest guys I've ever met… aside from you of course" She tagged on when Bo gave her a look, "and this just seems so out of character."

Bo couldn't argue with that. Jimmie was, well, there was a reason why Bo came out to Jimmie. Two actually, the first was obvious: Jimmie was one of the sweetest guys Bo knew and Bo, well, Bo kind of liked him a little more than the local priest would have approved. At the same time; Jimmie was one of the sweetest guys Bo knew, and earlier that night Bo had felt that even if he was rejected on the doorstep, they could still be friends. Because Jimmie was just that cool.

Half an hour ago had not been cool. But Brook had made a point which was unfortunate, as it put a damper on his fantastically bad mood. "Alright." Bo muttered defeated. "I'll drop him back home." Then he grinned at the passenger, "But you owe me a slushy."

"Scouts honour." Brook replied, giving Bo a mock salute as they returned from whence they came.

_Author's note: Thanks to everyone that's commented and/or submitted ideas. You've given me the bump I needed to defete the great beast Writer's Block and come up with an interesting plot. Looking forward to unfolding it with you all. Cheers! _


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